Theme 2 - Economic empowerment

The Constitution of Pakistan, as per its Article 25 (2), makes it binding that there will be no
discrimination on the basis of sex. In pursuance of this, planning and policies for ensuring gender
equality, women rights and empowerment have evolved gradually considering their significant
contribution to sustainable socio-economic development. Women constitute 51 per cent of the
total population and 22.7 per cent of the labour force. Despite their recognized constitutional,
legal and religious rights, the status of women remained under shadows. To enable them to
contribute actively in the socio-economic development, their protection, wellbeing,
empowerment and participation will have to be further encouraged.
Similarly, the Vision 2025 and prospective 11th Five Year Plan approach to provide an enabling
environment and equal opportunities to women for development of their full potential to enjoy
the benefits of economic growth, prosperity and social development consequent upon the
outcome of the initiatives taken by the federal and provincial governments, as well as by the
stakeholders. The Pakistan National Policy for Development and Empowerment 2002 ensures
women equal access to all development benefits and social services. The standardised framework
and guidelines will be required for equitable development of women across all regions.
According to Pakistans MDGs Report Gender Parity Index in Schools (2013), the GPI at
primary level is 0.9, secondary level at 0.8, youth literacy at 0.81, share of women in wage
employment in the non-agriculture sector 10.45 per cent and proportion of women participation
and holding seats in the Parliament is at 22.2 per cent. Out of 342 seats in the National
Assembly, 60 are reserved for women nominated from provinces (Punjab 35, Sindh 14, KPK 8,
and Balochistan 3). In addition, there are 14 women in the National Assembly and total seats are
74 (20 per cent).
Moreover, Pakistan has taken many initiatives during 2014-15 for women development and
empowerment. Through key initiatives, participation has been given to women in the decision
making bodies, particularly in the Punjab, land reforms etc., and ensured ownership of women in
land, day-care facilities for children of working women and establishment of women crises

centres in the country. Remarkable women-friendly programmes include: National Plan of

Action, Gender Reform Action Programmes, Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP),
National Rural Support Programme (NRSP), Pakistan Bait-ul-Maal, First Women Development
Bank and National Commission on the Status of Women. The women development departments
have been established in provinces, which have been empowered under the 18 th Constitutional
Amendment. These departments take initiatives for the establishment of working women hostels,
day care centres, women crises centres, shelter homes, etc1.
1) Access to Finance in Pakistan
State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has been supporting development of an inclusive financial system
in the country to ensure provision of financial services to all sectors of the economy. According
to Labour Force Survey 2012-13, women constitute 13.76 million of Pakistans labor force
which represents their significance in overall economic growth of the country. Nearly 90 percent
of these women work in agriculture, elementary occupations and crafts sector. This presents an
opportunity to financial sector to increase its outreach amongst the economically active female
population. Cognizant of the potential of these markets, SBP assigns high priority to the sectors
such as, i) agricultural credit ii) microfinance iii) SME finance, and iv) housing finance.2
Access to financial services by women is lower in Pakistan but the momentum is building
gradually for increasing womens share in financial access. According to the data available as of
December 31, 2013, the development finance (DF) sector is serving 2.6 million borrowers with
an outstanding portfolio of Rs. 606 billion. Male borrowers dominate with a significant share of
87% in the total borrower base. Overall, highest number of borrowers (1.4 million or 54%) are
concentrated in agriculture sector followed by microfinance with 0.97 million borrowers (38%),
whereas share of SMEs in total borrowers is 5%. Sectoral distribution shows that maximum
number of female borrowers is in microfinance banking sector which make up 78% of the
overall female borrower base within the DF sector.
1 CHAPTER 9 - GENDER AND WOMEN EMPOWERMENT Annual Plan 2015-16 onlinehttp://www.pc.gov.pk/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/Ch9-Gender-and-women-empowerment.pdf
2 http://www.sbp.org.pk/acd/Access-Finance-Indicators-mix.pdf

The outstanding portfolio of development finance sector stands at Rs. 606 billion with significant
shares in SMEs (Rs. 270 billion) and agriculture (Rs. 255 billion) sectors. Gender classification
of the portfolio reveals that only 5% (Rs. 28 billion) of the overall credit of development finance
sector is directed towards female borrowers. Among sectors, highest credit to women is directed
in agriculture (36%) and SME sector (26%) whereas microfinance and housing finance sector
make 19% each. On the saving side, MFBs currently hold 2.7 million individual deposit accounts
with a share of 32% female accounts. Major share in total value of deposits of Rs. 30 billion is
held by males with 78% (Rs. 23 billion) while women make up 22%.